Heart of Harmony
by Reynard the Fox
Summary: The creation myth of Venus, and the story of their first queen. Rated T for safety's sake because I'm not good at judging ratings.


Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters within it. Those belong to Naoko Takeuchi. I do not make any money off of this whatsoever. I do however own any original characters within these stories.

Author's Note: I'd recently restarted a personal project of mine where I tried to reconstruct the ancient civilizations of the Silver Millennium. It is through that work that these stories are spawned, and you'll see it in my other two Sailor Moon stories, Guarded Treasure and The First Days On Earth.

In the process of my project, I had ideas about each planet's religion and mythology. After all, a religion is by definition one of the key features of a civilization, and myths are a part of that. What I present to you here, as the summary said, is a myth of the Venusians, of their creation, and of a very important figure in their history.

Please enjoy. And also please remember to leave a review. Tell me what you think, good or bad. Just don't leave flames. If you have criticisms, make them constructive.

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In the beginning, there was no Venus. There were no mountains, no jungles, and no oceans of deep blue. There were no song birds or bright flowers or warm breezes or hot sand, and there was no moonlight, for the moon of Neith did not exist.

In the beginning, there was Harmonia, goddess of love, harmony, and truth. And Harmonia had one great desire, to create something beautiful, a work of art. So Harmonia took the stuff of stars in her hands, brought it together, and with the magic of love, sculpted the planet Venus.

She shaped the landscape in great detail, and warmed it with the Sun. And upon it she created all manner of plants and animals, all living and working together to maintain the web of life. And to finish her great creation, she made for herself a man, who she called Adonis, and a woman, who she called Ishtar. She caressed their faces as they lay upon the planet, dreaming as ones not yet woken to the world. She filled their hearts with love, and made their dreams pleasant, whispering to them her wishes for them to live in harmony and truth. These were her blessed children.

Adonis and Ishtar awoke, and their children became the first Venusians. Harmonia smiled at her beautiful work. But the process of creating it had been very tiring. So the goddess retired to her divine palace atop Mt. Maat, and fell into a deep sleep.

The Venusians flourished for a time, living in peace in small villages and tribes scattered throughout the wilderness. All were happy, all but one.

This being was Eris, the goddess of discord and strife, and rival to Harmonia. Eris saw Harmonia's great work and wished to match her, to create a world of her own. But try as she might, matter would not come together by the discordant power of her hands. Eris burned with envy and rage. She would not be outdone. So the goddess Eris hatched a plan.

She walked upon the land of Venus and took for herself an apple, filling it with her magic and transforming its shape to be larger and more succulent, and becoming the color of Venusian gold. Soon it became the very thing she needed, that which she'd been unable to create alone, the power of discord in structured form. This was her new and most prized weapon, the Apple of Discord.

Eris tossed the apple high into the sky, letting it land among a small group of Venusians deep within a forest, far from any others. When the men and women saw this strange apple, they became instantly enchanted with it, each wanting it for their own. Soon they began to argue over it, and before long, argued over other things they'd never fought over before. Soon, the apple lay completely forgotten, lost to sight and memory. Songs of pleasantry and peace were replaced by angry shouts and cutting insults. The apple began to glow, and a dark seed fell from it and planted itself in the ground.

The fighting grew more and more intense. Harsh words gave way to the taking of stones and branches, and the striking of blows. Before long, all of the Venusians lay dead, their blood pooling out. The apple faded out of existence, but where it stood, there suddenly came a rumbling. The earth split open as a tree forced its way up into the sky.

But this tree was like nothing on Venus. It dwarfed all other trees around it, with bark as black as the void of space and long, tentacle-like branches reaching for the sky, and long thick roots that dug into the ground and wrapped tightly around it like weeds choking out opposition. In appearance it was the very image of sickly or half dead, the sparse number of leaves on the branches being not even autumn orange, but a deep crimson, and dry in texture. This was the Tree of Discord.

And then the branches suddenly bore golden apples, smaller duplicates of Eris's weapon. The fruits sprouted as quickly as the tree, and just as quickly broke loose to be scattered by the winds all over Venus.

The apples landed in every village, in every small settlement and every field. When groups of Venusians looked upon the strange apples, discord filled their hearts, and they began to fight with each other, the apple forgotten. And like before, the apple vanished to be replaced by a dwarfed version of the mother tree, these as invisible as the apple had become. All that passed under their shade fell prey to their twisted magic.

Though no blood was spilled, the words were as sharp as swords. The trees grew to the numbers of an orchard, collecting pain and suffering like sunlight and feeding it to the mother tree.

Time passed, the Venusians continued to quarrel and fight, and the trunk of the invisible mother tree grew warped. Eris looked down upon it with glee. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. From the warped trunk came forth humanoid figures, men and women fully growth and clothed. These were the children of Eris, born in the shape of the Venusians upon whose suffering and shed tears they'd drank like milk. Their hearts had been filled not with harmony, but with pure discord and hate.

They were to be the agents of discord. Eris looked over her many children and gave each of them a task and a name, sending them forth all over Venus to fan the flames of strife under the cover of invisibility.

Her son Ponos made all labor hard and toiling in the heat of the Sun. The plain-faced daughter Lethe, adorned in robes of muted colors, offered water that brought forgetfulness and the obscuring of the truth. The withered daughter Limos stalked the fields. In her shadow followed famine and endless hunger.

The twin brothers Algea were the masters of creating burning pain in the Venusians, in both mind and body. The twin sisters Hysminai pulled at the limbs and hearts of passersby, making women and men strike blows in the street.

A group of siblings declared themselves the Makhai, and were found in those places where war broke out between villages. They stood there among the battlers, unseen as they played like chess masters. Homados, whose awful voice was enough to wish for deafness, echoed back the clashing of weapons. His twin brother Kydoimos muddied the senses to create endless confusion. Lady Alala screamed mightily for more blood and carnage, spurring on the combatants with her song, while the sisters Proioxis, Palioxis, and Ioke controlled the flow of battle like the tide, and Lady Alke granted strength to the combatants who would bring the most injuries and devastation.

The web of murder was woven by two sets of twins. The brothers Phonoi planted murderous intent in the hearts of otherwise peaceful people in the streets and fields, while the sisters Androkasiai assisted their siblings the Makhai by delivering the final silence on the fields of combat.

The children of Eris even invaded homes and gatherings. The sisters Neikea put angry words on the lips of all the Venusians to bring about a string of quarrels while the brothers Pseudologoi granted lies. When village elders met to resolve the unrest around them, the sisters Amphilogiai whispered idea after idea in their ears, turning the meeting into an endless and fruitless debate, echoing only contention.

Wicked Dysnomia greeted all who walked in the day, though none ever remembered her, followed by her sisters, the ever unfair Adikia and the ever violent and arrogant Hybris. Their presence made even the simplest and most benign of interactions hostile. Their sister Ate unbound impulses to lead women and men to folly, while Horkos compelled the Venusians to make false promises, and bellowed in joy when his victims fell to retribution.

Like a queen, Eris sat atop her tree and cackled at the work of her children. Discord spread throughout the land, poisoning the heart of every Venusian, slowly but surely. It sang to Eris like a lullaby.

But to other ears, the increasing cries of pain and rage were a cacophony. So loud grew the sounds of chaos that they reached the heights of Mt. Maat, and reverberated through the halls of Harmonia's great palace. The sound was so terrible that the great goddess of Venus was shaken from her sleep.

Angered by her awakening, Harmonia went to her balcony to see what was the cause of it all. She looked down in horror at what had become of her world and her precious children. She saw the twisted creatures masquerading as her creations, and knew them to be the work of Eris. And worst of all, she could find no sense of harmony among her children, no sense of the peace or love she'd left in the hearts of Adonis and Ishtar.

The more she looked on, the more desperate and fearful the goddess became to find some trace of herself in the hearts of the Venusians. And the more she looked, the angrier at Eris she became and the angrier she became at herself for letting this happen to her children. But, finally, Harmonia found a glimmer of love, of the light of Venus, nestled deep in someone's heart.

Going to the reflecting pool, Harmonia saw within it the face of the one woman left on Venus whose heart had not been overrun by Eris. She was young, barely older than twenty, but one would hardly be able to tell. She was so very petite, much shorter than anyone her age, with a soft face that made her still look like a child, a mere slip of a girl with hazel eyes and plain, corn silk colored hair.

This was Astraea, daughter of the simple farmer Europa. Her heart was dedicated to fairness, and when the fighting broke out, she was the only one who never participated, and instead tried to resolve every dispute. So strong was the light of Venus in her heart that Eris's children could not extinguish it. But Harmonia saw that this was not to last. As young Astraea slept in her bed, Dysnomia and her two companions were converging. They intended either to finally poison the girl's soul or murder her outright.

Harmonia could not let that happen. So the goddess pulled down the clouds to shroud the village in fog, and under its cover she whisked the sleeping girl away to her palace.

But even while Harmonia had pulled Astraea to safety, Eris's plan had reached the next stage. The dwarfed trees had grown fat with the destruction around them. Eris smiled down on her forest. Upon her command, new monstrosities sprang from the dwarf trees, ghoulish, twisted things, hundreds upon hundreds of them. These were the foot soldiers of Eris, the army her children would now command. It was time to step out of the shadows and finally claim Venus for her own.

Astraea awoke, confused. Where was she? But she had little time to contemplate her surroundings before piercing screams filled the garden. Astraea covered her ears, wishing it would stop, wondering what it was that sounded so terrible.

In answer to her question, an image appeared in the reflecting pool at her feet. She saw Venus, she saw her home. She saw her people screaming and crying in terror, as they had been for long. Astraea could hardly remember a time now when Venus was not engulfed in chaos, when she hadn't been trying to resolve some fight among her friends and family.

Her eyes widened when she saw what her people were screaming at. What were those horrible monsters? And the people leading them… there was something the young woman instinctively disliked about them, something wrong in their faces, in their eyes.

It was then that Harmonia appeared behind her, and introduced herself. Astraea jumped before bowing to her goddess. Harmonia explained that those beasts were the children and foot soldiers of Eris, Harmonia's great enemy. Eris had sown the seeds of discord in the Venusians to create her own people, to rule Venus. And now they had stepped out into the visible world for all mortals to see. Astraea was here because she was the only Venusian not twisted by Eris's evil.

Astraea looked back at the pool, looked back at the beasts. They destroyed everything in their path, killed innocents and locked others in cages like wild animals. These creatures, these awful creatures were responsible for all the pain, all the fighting and killing and weeping her people had suffered?

Harmonia spoke again. "Eris must be dealt with," she said, "I must gather my strength to remove her from Venus. Stay here child, where you will be safe-"

"No," replied Astraea, catching the goddess by surprise. The girl turned to the mother of all Venus, a fire in her eyes. "Great Harmonia, let me deal with Eris in your stead."

"But why child?" replied Harmonia. "You cannot stand against such an army. You are but a mortal and I am a goddess. Why would you risk your life? Do you seek revenge? Why throw yourself willingly into such combat?"

"I hate violence, more than anything," replied the girl. "I abhor it to my very core. I have seen it tear apart my people, claim friends I loved, their lives and dreams. I seek justice for the crimes committed by Eris, not revenge."

"Agreed, but why must you go yourself?"

"If justice is to be done, Eris's children must be defeated by children of harmony. The Venusians have to prove that we can stand against her, or the defeat will mean nothing. We must defend ourselves against those that wish harm."

Harmonia stared at the girl, and then smiled. "You are very wise for one your age. Very well, you shall act as my agent of harmony, and lead the Venusians in punishing Eris. But you cannot do it as you are now. Follow me."

Harmonia led the girl deep into her palace, and into a solidary room where an ornate wooden box sat on a marble pedestal. "A mortal such as yourself would be no match against the magic of discord, so to fight it, I give you this."

Harmonia opened the box, revealing a crystal. Astraea had never seen anything like it. It glowed a soft, golden-orange color, and it felt so very warm when Harmonia placed it in her hands.

"This," said the goddess, "is the Venus Crystal. It is the very heart of the planet, the heart of its magic, and the power of love and harmony that I wield. With its light, you shall be safe against Eris." Harmonia summoned a chain for the crystal, and placed it around the girl's neck. "Hold it close to your heart always. But now you will need one more thing to face her armies."

Harmonia led the girl to another part of the palace, a second and equally vast garden. "To face her armies, you will need one of your own," said the goddess. "And so I shall craft one to defend all of Venus."

Harmonia gathered her power, and raised up the earth. Like a master sculptor, she worked the soil, shaping it into some new creature. To this creature, she granted the very strength of the earth itself. She pulled up the metals from within the core of Venus, and wove them into her work. This new beast would have a body equal in strength to any metal, a body of steel. It would be a beast to break Eris's great hordes.

Harmonia smiled. "They are done. Now Astraea, use the crystal and bring them to life. Fill their hearts with love."

Astraea raised the crystal, and let its light shine. The rays touched the sculptures, turning earth to flesh and bone and blood. And soon the garden was filled with a new breed of animal, the Venusian Taurus, an entire herd of them.

"The Taurus will serve you, and follow your command child. Now go forth and bring justice to Eris, and peace to all of Venus."

Astraea mounted one of the great beasts and led them out from the palace, down the great height of Mt. Maat. When she arrived on the fields of Venus, she found a village, her village, overrun by the degraded ghouls of Eris. Leading them was Dysnomia and her companions.

"Children of Eris," shouted Astraea, "I am Astraea, and I come in the name of Harmonia, goddess of Venus. You are to surrender immediately and face punishment for the crimes you have committed."

Dysnomia and her sisters laughed. "Who is this that demands our surrender my sisters?" shouted the lady of lawlessness.

"It looks like that brat Astraea," replied Adikia.

"Let us kill her, I want to tear out her kidneys," added Hybris.

"Let's get her now," shouted Ate.

Dysnomia smiled. "Minions, come surround this brat and her cattle."

The ghouls advanced, but Astraea did not turn back, and neither did the beasts at her command. "If that is how you wish to act, then so be it. But remember that I gave you the chance to end this peacefully. Hold your ground my friends, we will not run."

"No, you'll just DIE!" Ate jumped forward at Astraea, ready to tear her apart. But the Venusian just raised her hand, and held the crystal in the other, channeling its might. From her raised hand shot forth a beam of light that struck Ate in the shoulder.

"AHHH!" screamed Ate as she fell to the ground, clutching her bleeding arm in pain. Her sisters ran to her.

Dysnomia glared at her. "You shall pay for that you brat."

The other sisters charged at her, but Astraea and her steed still did not move. She heard the whispers of Harmonia in her ears. _Feel the power of love, let it run through you. Let yourself be the conduit to its power._ From her hand, there came a bright flash of light, a great barrier that shot forth, smashing into the demonic women, and forcing them backwards and down to the ground.

Dysnomia wiped blood from her mouth. "You…DESTROY HER!"

The ghouls leapt at Astraea, but her army was ready to intercept. The sharp claws and fangs found themselves unable to penetrate the hides of the Tauruses, who treated them as if they were mere mosquitos. With a shake of their bodies, they sent the creatures flying, shattering their bones with their great heads, or gouging them with their horns.

Horrified at their shattered minions, Dysnomia and the others retreated. Astraea and her herd were left alone. She commanded the cattle to break the cages, releasing the frightened and confused Venusians.

"Why do you fight them," asked a beaten man she knew as Pygmalion, a man who had once carved beautiful figures for any that asked. Astraea had heard that after so many women in the village had shattered his heart with sudden cruelty, he'd given up his statue making and all but abandoned even love itself. "Why do you cause more violence?"

"I am fighting them because justice needs to be done. Eris has caused all of this madness, and we can't sit here and do nothing. Venus needs to fight for itself."

Astraea called out to all the villagers to join her in her fight. She had hoped to draw on their strength, to make a united stand. But none of the other Venusians would join her. Astraea moved on, onto other villages that had been overrun with the minions of strife. There too she drove them back with the burning light of the crystal, and the great strength of the Tauruses. And there too did she release the Venusians from imprisonment.

Astraea drove back even the terrible Makhai, her power burning against their armor. Even awful Homados fell silent after a blow from the Venus Crystal. And in the village where they had laid waste, another Venusian questioned Astraea.

This time it was a woman named Alexandra. She had been a soldier in the maddening wars brought on by the Makhai. She'd lost sisters and brothers, and earned scars across her whole body.

"Why are you continuing a war?" she asked, her voice empty as she sat on the blackened grass. "Wars have led to nothing good. I am tired of war, and of fighting. If you continue to battle, how are you different from any other?"

"There is a difference here," said Astraea. "Eris's monsters made you fight for the sake of fighting, for the sake creating more bloodshed. What I am doing is fighting in defense of my home, and to protect those in need. I am fighting to right the wrongs that have been done, and there is no wrong in doing so." Astraea turned her steed, but looked back at Alexandra. "If we do not stand for ourselves, then Eris will have won."

Alexandra, sitting there silently, still refused to join, and so did all the other women and men, so Astraea left again on her own.

Eris's soldiers tried again and again to ambush her, but Astraea did not slow down. None could withstand either the strength of the Tauruses, or the shield of power that Astraea could summon. She passed through village after village, smashing whatever remains of Eris she could find, and freeing the surviving Venusians. And like before, none chose to join her in fighting. The pain, blood, and corpses she saw only strengthened her resolve.

Finally she reached the great Tree of Discord. And standing before it was the source of all this suffering, Eris, surrounded by her children and her soldiers. Astraea's grip tightened on her reigns as she looked into Eris's face."

"Eris, I am Astraea. I command you in the name of Harmonia to surrender and submit to punishment for what you have done."

"Foolish girl. You have broken some of my soldiers, but do you really think you can beat the goddess of strife?"

"I have been given power by Harmonia to stop you. This is your final chance. Surrender peacefully now or I will use force."

Eris just laughed again, joined by her family. "Power you may have, and great beasts you may possess, but you are still one mortal Venusian. Do you really think you can fight the entirety of my forces with just yourself and your cattle?"

"She won't be alone!" came a shout in the distance. There, coming upon the tree, was Alexandra, followed by countless Venusians, armed with discarded weapons of Eris's war or whatever else they could carry. "We will defend this planet with her!"

Eris growled in fury. "Very well then you insects. Let us finish this once and for all! ATTACK!"

Both sides charged, and weapons clashed. Astraea took to fighting off the children of Eris, pushing them back with a beam of the crystal's light. None of the ghouls dared approach her for fear of the Taurus on which she still rode. In the chaos, Astraea saw more of Eris's lesser creatures spawning from the dwarfed trees, which multiplied around the great mother tree.

"Alexandra!" she called out. "We have to get rid of the mother tree. Its offspring are spawned more of these abominations."

"Understood," shouted back Alexandra. She turned to her the women beside her. "You two, get the chains, we need to uproot that tree."

The women took great lengths of chain, the same chains with which Eris had captured them, and leapt onto the backs of the Tauruses. They charged toward the great tree and wrapped the chains around its withered trunk, pulling them tight. More and more Venusians joined in, taking chains and wrapping them on the tree. They took the other end of the chains and pulled them around the Tauruses.

Eris saw what they were doing, and commanded her children to stop them. But Astraea got between them, blasting back Eris's offspring with the power of the Crystal.

Alexandra shouted to the crowed to pull, and pull they did. The great beasts moved, inch by inch, pulling the chains taught holding through the power of the magic that made them, and little by little, the great tree gave way. The earth shook violently as the deep roots were pulled loose, and the tree finally fell with a great crash, leaving a great chasm where it has dug into the surface of Venus.

With the fall of the mother tree, all the lesser trees turned to dust, and Eris's forces grew no more. The Venusians kept fighting until the minions had been whittled to nothing.

Her tree destroyed and her foot soldiers falling, Eris knew it was time to retreat. "Come children! We must fall back for now!" Without waiting for argument, she lifted herself and her children high into the sky, ready to leave Venus.

Astraea narrowed her eyes at the fleeing goddess. But she had an idea. She called for Alexandra to toss her a length of chain. Chain in hand, Astraea focused her mind, channeling the power of the crystal once more. Its light transformed the chain from rusted iron to the color of gold, from discord to harmony. While before it had been heavy, this new chain was light as a feather.

She swung the great chain around, and shouted up to Eris. "You will not escape Eris!"

Astraea tossed the chain, and it wrapped around Eris, the light sizzling against her flesh, causing the goddess to scream in agony. Astraea pulled the chain taught, reeling in the goddess.

"I told you before that you would face what you have done. I am here in the name of Harmonia to bring justice to my planet. You, who could not make a world of your own, tried to steal that which was not yours, and caused countless people to suffer in the process." When Eris struggled, Astraea pulled her closer, the crystal filling her with strength. "What do you have to say for your actions?"

"I am the goddess Eris!" cried her captive. "This world should be mine! I am greater than that fool Harmonia, and I always have been. I don't care about you pathetic little bugs."

"So you feel no remorse for what you've done?"

Eris snarled. "No, but you will when I get free. Children, help me!"

Her children rushed to rescue their mother, but the magic chain just grew, wrapping itself around the arms and legs of all of them, binding them as tightly as it did her mother.

Astraea held the chain tight in her hands and pulled them all closer to the ground. "So you offer no defense for what you've done? Fine. Then in the name of love I will punish you." She eyed the chasm where the Tree of Discord had stood. "Since you wanted this planet to live on, I will give it to you. Let it serve as a prison for your entire family."

She gave a hard tug at the magic chain, making it drop toward the great chasm. Eris and her children screamed in terror as they fell down into the dark depths, the golden chain still tied tightly around them. Astraea let go of the chain, letting it sink with the goddess of strife deep into planet.

The earth shook violently as the ground closed, sealing Eris and her kin in the depths of Venus, forever bound in chains.

Astraea gave a sigh. Her body was so tired, the magic having taken much out of her. Around her, the Venusians gave shouts of joy.

"Well done my child." Astraea lifted her head and saw Harmonia standing before her. She quickly dismounted and bowed to her goddess.

"I could not have done it without your assistance oh great Harmonia." She lifted the chain from her neck. "And now that I have banished Eris, I wish to return this to you."

But Harmonia simply raised her hand to stop the girl. "No my dear, you may keep it."

"What?"

"Though Eris and her kin are trapped, the scars of their treachery still exist, and may never truly fade. Discord still exists on the realm of Venus. For this reason, and for your bravery and dedication to love, justice, and harmony, I have decided that you shall lead Venus as their new queen. And you shall keep the power of the Venus Crystal close, and pass it down to your kin."

"A queen…me?" Astraea was thunderstruck. "But I am but a simple girl, I cannot be queen. It was only your magic that gave me the power to vanquish them."

But Harmonia just smiled. "No child. I may have given you the Tauruses aid you, but remember it was you, with the light of the Venus Crystal, that gave them the final gift of life. And though I gave you the Crystal, its great power can only be used by those with the strength to harness it. You have great strength Astraea, you just don't see it. And that is why I think you are most fit to lead the Venusians."

The crowd shouted her name, echoing the sentiments of their goddess, led by none other than Alexandra. In Harmonia's hands, there appeared a crown, decorated with two curved horns and gilded roses. She placed this crown atop Astraea's head.

"With this," said the goddess, "I, Harmonia, goddess and creator of Venus, do declare you, Astraea, to be the queen of all Venus, and keeper of the Venus Crystal. And remember to keep it close to your heart always."

Harmonia vanished, and Astraea was left to lead her new subjects to rebuild their home, with the help of the Venusian Tauruses. Together, they built both villages, and great cities. It was in the first city that the Venusians built a grand palace for their new queen, and the war-weary Alexandra served as a close advisor.

Astraea, ever dedicated to justice, used her palace as the first court of law, and served as high judge, where she would sit daily to hear and debate every grievance brought to her. She was renowned for her wisdom, aided by Harmonia's final gift, a set of mystic golden scales called Libra, whose swinging pans helped guide the young queen in her rulings. So famed were the scales and her wisdom with them that her royal house would forever adopt the name of Librae.

Astraea wrote the first laws of Venus, and built similar courts around her kingdom, laws and courts which stood years after her death. And generations after Astraea, long after her body had been preserved and buried in her lost tomb, long after the scales of Libra were buried with her, long after her palace was converted into the High Court of Venus, she was still remembered.

Even to the days of Queen Aphrodite and Princess Mina, Astraea's legacy lived on. Her faithful beasts that served as her army were loved and cared for on palace grounds. To commemorate the faithful battle, Astraea wore a chain of gold around her waist as a belt, a piece of royal regalia that remaining until the end.

And when the mantle of Sailor Venus was being made, and her armaments were being crafted, there was no question that she too would be armed with a golden chain of love, and wear it around her waist, the same chain that her ancestor used to bind the very forces of discord to their eternal prison.

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Author's Note: Slight edit to the story. Sorry about that bolded word near the end. That was me marking a word for editing. I must have missed it. Fixed it now. Whoops.


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